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37
COUNTY COUNCIL RATE.
As some misapprehension appears to exist with regard to
the rate levied for the London County Council, it may
perhaps, be as well to explain that the Council have superseded
two bodies, that is, the Metropolitan Board of Works,
and, for administrative purposes, the Justices of the Peace
for the portions of Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey, now included
in the County of London. The rate levied by the
Metropolitan Board of Works was uniform throughout the
Metropolis, but the county rate levied by the Justices in
Middlesex was lower than that levied by the Justices in
Surrey and Kent, consequently the ratepayers in London
south of the Thames have benefitted slightly by the
amalgamation of the county charges.
In comparing the rate levied for the County Council,
with that of their predecessors, therefore, the county rate
levied by the Justices as well as the rate levied by the
Metropolitan Board of Works, must be reckoned. Nor
must the re-arrangement of the burden of taxation, resulting
from the expiration of the Coal Dues and the alteration
in the method of making contributions from Imperial funds
in aid of the local rates and in the amount of these contributions,
be overlooked. For general purposes, the Coal
Dues ceased to be available in July, 1888, and under
the Local Government Act, 1888, Exchequer contributions
of about £600,000 per annum were replaced by
the proceeds of a proportion of the English probate
duty and of certain licence fees, together amounting (for
London) to about £800,000 a year, or about £200,000
more than the Exchequer contributions. On the other hand,
the Council are called upon to make a new payment